Rich rewards for Finch
Last updated: 3rd December 2007
Finch: impressive win
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Mark Roe and Denis Pugh were in agreement that Richard Finch's win in New Zealand was a "career-turning" performance.
The Englishman picked up his maiden European Tour win at the centenary New Zealand Open in Queenstown just a few weeks after he had to earn a top-15 finish in the final event of the year in Mallorca to avoid a trip to qualifying school.
And speaking on Golf Night, Mark said Finch should be applauded for playing on after a difficult season and will reap the rewards of a remarkable victory.
He said: "You've got to give him massive credit after what he did in Mallorca, which was a real pressure-packed week.
"He kept his card with a brilliant seventh place and a lot of people would have put their feet up for Christmas and started again with some of the nicer events in the New Year.
"I spoke to him on the phone and he told me he wanted to go down there and get some money up on the Order of Merit and get a good start for next season.
"And looked what happened. This is not a good start, this is a career turning.
"He can look at the rest of the season and plan where he wants to play. All the big events are available to him and there are more doors open for him.
"He can reschedule the way he travels because he is going to be playing in the Wednesday Pro-Ams and that means he can turn up almost a day later.
"So it was a magnificent performance. And also credit to the New Zealanders, what a brilliant tournament, with great crowds in a great setting. An absolute success."
Denis agreed with that assessment and thought some of the Tour's other players might be kicking themselves for not making the trip Down Under after seeing Finch's success.
He said: "Some other players will be regretting not going down there. Some of them are working on their games and getting ready for this year's Tour and you can't play every week.
"But this is a very prestigious event, so they should be there for that reason. It is a big championship with more than 100 years of history.
"New Zealand's people really put on a great event, so we should say thank-you for that because it's not easy to get a tournament together there.
"But the most important thing is that Richard has gone down there and put 100,000 in the bank. It's a big week for him in more ways than one."
